402 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Regarding Ictalurus punctatus, Jordan says (Bull. IT. S. F. C. 1885, p. 34): 
As a food -fish the channel cat is certainly better worthy of attention than any other American 
cat-fish. There is much less waste in the body of the channel cat than in other cat-fishes, as the 
latter lose more than half their weight by removal of the head, the entrails, and the skin. The flesh 
of the channel cat, when fresh, is very superior; it is white, crisp, and juicy, of excellent flavor, and 
not tough. It is much more delicate both in fiber and in flavor than that of the other cat-fishes. When 
well cooked, I consider it superior to that of the black bass, the wall-eye, the yellow perch, or any 
other percoid fishes. Among other fresh-water fishes, it is inferior only to the white-fish, the trout, 
and other Salmonidx. 
Speaking of the blue cat ( Ictalurus furcatus ), Jordan & Evermann say (Amer- 
ican Food and Game Fishes, p. 19): 
In spite of popular prejudice to the contrary, the flesh of this cat-fish is of excellent quality, firm 
and flaky, of very delicious flavor, nutritious in a high degree, and always commanding a fair price. 
Regarding the yellow cat, which they term the mud cat, the same authors state, 
on page 32: 
Its flesh is of fine texture and of excellent flavor, and there is really no good reason for the preju- 
dice against it which obtains in many localities. The fact that it is a large, rather repulsive-looking 
fish, not too cleanly in its habits, doubtless has something to do with this. 
Mr. Charles Hiesler (Bull. U. S. F. C. 1882, 76-79) has written regarding 
Ameiurus nebulosus (?): 
It is one of the very best of pan fishes, and has no noticeable bones. It retains its excellence as 
fresh fish as long as any fish and longer than most of them. It is eaten and relished by all classes of 
people, and they would eat more if they could get them. It is not salted down because the demand for 
fresh fish exceeds the supply. Its quality for table food will ever prevent its use for any other purpose. 
The great popular demand testifies to the food virtues of the cat-fishes. 
Habitat . — Almost any one of the species of. cat-fishes seems to be adapted to a wide 
range of climatic conditions, although somewhat restricted to certain immediate sur- 
roundings. Ameiurus Jacustris is supposed to be distributed from the Saskatchewan 
River and the Great Lakes to Florida. Ameiurus -nebulosus is found from Maine to 
Florida; but in Maine this species occurs, as a rule, only in muddy lakes and streams 
with plenty of vegetation, and such portions of bodies of water of other character as 
afford those conditions, and apparently the fish do not stray far from home. Such 
localities are probably the warmest ones of the region. Regarding the local habitat 
of the bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus ), Dean says (Nineteenth Annual Report State 
Fish Commission, New York, 1890, 302): 
It is one of the hardiest of fishes, will care for itself and even thrive in the muddiest of stagnant 
waters. It will breed readily and will endure complacently every hardship of drought, extremes of 
temperature, and lack of food. 
Every trait of our cat-fish bespeaks its stagnant mud-loving nature; dusky in color, sluggish, and 
blundering, furnished with long and tactile barbels, a shallow, slowly drained pond, furnished with 
an occasional deep mudhole, will suit admirably the needs of the fish. If the water does become 
warm in the summer, the cat-fish will survive — knowing how to survive is one of its especial virtues. 
In a 3-foot aquarium at college about a dozen 9-inch cat-fish were kept during very warm weather, 
the room temperature often in the nineties and the water changed but once a day, with but few fatal 
results. Should the air supply in the water fail, trust the fish to care for itself. It will come to the 
surface, leisurely renew the air in its swim-bladder, and even, frog-like or turtle-like, swallow air in 
bulk, trusting to stomach respiration. Of undoubted respiratory value, moreover, must be the scale- 
less, highly vascular skin, so important in the breathing economy of the frogs. Should the pond dry, 
